Utica's failure doesn't cloud UHL's view of Allentown

The right people are in position to bring hockey here, says the league's commissioner.

March 04, 2001|By LARRY O'ROURKE Of The Morning Call

They are trying to make do without hockey again in Utica, N.Y.

The Mohawk Valley Prowlers franchise of the United Hockey League -- the sixth team to call the city's Memorial Auditorium home since it opened in 1959 and third UHL franchise to call Utica home since the mid-1990s -- last week was ordered by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of Northern New York to cease operations and liquidate assets.

So why should anyone in the Lehigh Valley care about the demise of a minor-league hockey franchise 260 highway miles away?

Consider:

The UHL is the league in which the Lehigh Valley Xtreme expansion franchise was supposed to begin play this season, a debut delayed at least a year because of unexpected difficulties and costs in arena construction in Allentown.

In the course of the bankruptcy proceedings, Mohawk Valley Prowlers owner Jack Tompkins made statements and offered supporting documents that suggested the UHL itself is in financial trouble.

Xtreme co-owners Terry Bender and David Stortz are former partners in the Prowlers franchise, and Stortz is listed as a creditor owed $20,100 by the Prowlers.

It was against that backdrop that UHL commissioner Richard Brosal was reached this past week in his St. Louis office.

Brosal expressed confidence there will be hockey in Allentown next winter.

"I can't speak on the building itself, but I can speak about the people involved, and they're moving in the right direction," Brosal said. "They're back on track. The right people are in position to make it happen."

That statement was a reference to Tuesday's announcement that a new set of partners -- Jeff Trainer, Dan Schantz and Stortz -- will take over as developers of the planned Allentown arena. The new group, operating as Allentown Arena Corp., replaces the group that was led by Xtreme co-owners Stortz and Bender. The Stortz-Bender group, B&S Real Estate, found the project cost prohibitive after it was learned 83 additional support piers would have to be part of the construction because of concerns about sinkholes. Bender and Stortz remain the Xtreme's owners.

But what about Utica?

"Utica? Poor choice," Brosal said. "Three years ago, we needed them to make a geographic footprint in the Northeast. But now we have [first-year expansion franchise] Elmira, and they're successful the most talked-about thing in Elmira.

"It [losing Utica] doesn't hurt us in the long run or the short run," he said. "There isn't ample parking, and it's an old building that needs a lot of repairs. I feel bad for the die-hard fans in Utica, but the problem is there aren't enough of them."

When Prowlers players went on strike leading up to the Feb. 21 liquidation order and Tompkins hired replacements, many of the approximately 1,000 Prowlers season ticket-holders joined the players' picket lines outside Memorial Auditorium.

"A lot of people are real upset with Tompkins and during the strike were outside with the players," said Matt DePasquale, a defense industry worker and Prowlers season ticket-holder who has his own Prowlers Web site, www.phanpage.com. "But some of the other people went inside and supported Jack."

In what could be interpreted as good news for would-be Xtreme fans in the Lehigh Valley, DePasquale added: "The feeling around here was that Bender was the guy [in the Prowlers' ownership group] who had the money, and when he left town Jack [Tompkins] was left treading water."

The overall apathy toward the Prowlers in Utica was confirmed by Will Berkheiser, a one-time Carbon County resident who is manager of Memorial Auditorium.

"We're open to having another team, but it's not the death-blow some people might think," Berkheiser said. "The hockey team is not a money-making proposition [for the arena]. They fill 37 nights, but they take up prime Friday and Saturday dates. I've already booked a boat show and a monster truck show for two of the dates they were supposed to play games."

What about the bankruptcy court proceedings?

In his affidavit "in opposition of the United Hockey League's motion for relief from stay or conversion" of Chapter 11 (reorganization) bankruptcy to Chapter 7 (liquidation), Tompkins questioned the UHL's credibility.

"Currently, the UHL is in serious financial condition and is in no position to criticize MVP [Mohawk Valley Prowlers] or its management," Tompkins alleged.

A Jan. 18 memo from Brosal to owners planning to attend a Jan. 29 meeting in Binghamton, N.Y., issued a warning of possible tough times ahead and was offered as Exhibit B in the petition filed by Tompkins.

"Costs keep escalating and revenues seem to be decreasing or staying flat," Brosal's memo said in part. "We are running businesses here and making money should be the only thing we are striving for. The survival of our league first and foremost should be our top priority."

Later in the memo, Brosal advised team owners that "we must face the sheer fact that the survival of our league is at stake."